Pirates plate a pair in 8th to beat Giants, earn series win

The Pittsburgh Pirates rode a bit of momentum into the second of three games at Oracle Park on Tuesday, having won six of their last seven.

Conversely, the San Francisco Giants had dropped 11 of their past 14 games when they sent Justin Verlander to the hill looking to even up their series vs. the Pirates.

Bailey Falter started for the Pirates, fresh off a season-high, eight-strikeout gem July 23 against Detroit.

Squaring off against the 42-year old and three-time Cy Young Award winner, the Pirates broke up a late tie after he’d exited to win 3-1.

Joey Bart and Liover Peguero collected RBIs in the eighth inning to lift the Pirates (46-62) to a series win.

“To grind out those at-bats, find a way to put the ball in play, move (runners) forward and push two runs across the plate was really big,” manager Don Kelly said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show.

Falter and Verlander both lasted five innings, allowing one run apiece while taking no-decisions.

Verlander struck out seven with a walk and six hits while Falter threw only 70 pitches (43 strikes), walking four with one punch out and two hits allowed.

After Falter’s exit, Braxton Ashcraft entered the game and delivered three scoreless innings, allowing no hits or baserunners with one strikeout.

Dennis Santana was inserted in the ninth to close things out in place of David Bednar, who threw 32 pitches to earn a save Monday.

Deputizing for Bednar, Santana struck out a pair to pick up his sixth save of the season.

Ashcraft (3-1, 2.17 ERA) was Tuesday’s winning pitcher.

San Francisco took a 1-0 lead in the fourth when Willy Adames hit a solo homer, his 16th of the year, on a 3-2 fastball from Falter.

Falter surrendered a double to Casey Schmitt before the frame was over but averted any further damage.

In the top of the fifth, Peguero tied the game with a solo home run of his own, his first with the Pirates since Sept. 9, 2023, connecting on a 95 mph heater from Verlander.

“That’s an unbelievable pitcher and one of the best to me,” Peguero said. “I’m happy about what I did, but I have respect for him. I feel like all we’re doing right now is just playing hard. We were just trying to keep it simple.”

Falter, whose eight strikeouts last time out were accompanied by zero walks, did not have the same command Tuesday. He issued four bases on balls through only three innings.

However, the free passes didn’t come back to bite him, particularly in the third, when he got Rafael Devers to ground into an inning-ending double play to strand Patrick Bailey and Heliot Ramos, both of whom walked.

“It was a grindy one today, for sure,” Falter said. “… Just happy I got through five, especially with where the bullpen was at last night. Felt pretty good to go out there, get five for those guys, keep us in the game and give the team a chance to win.”

Meanwhile, Verlander was racking up strikeouts early.

One player he couldn’t punch out was the red-hot Tommy Pham, who collected a single and double off him, extending a hitting streak to nine games.

Against Ryan Walker in the seventh, the Pirates put two men on after Bart and Spencer Horwitz singled, but Andrew McCutchen struck out and Bryan Reynolds grounded out to end the frame.

Singles by Gonzales, Pham and Hayes loaded the bases in the eighth with one out.

Pham got aboard on an infield dribbler, while Hayes collected a hit by irregular means, as his routine grounder to second base was botched by Schmitt, who hesitated and made a poor throw to pitcher Tyler Rogers, covering first base.

Bart then followed with an RBI single to make it 2-1, before Peguero made it 3-1 with an RBI groundout.

Pham finished the game 3 for 4, boosting his batting average to .273.